Marketing the Church

By Ken Parks, February 11, 2013

Several church businesses employ the strategy of marketing their product, church attendance, by bringing in guest speakers who sometimes have nothing to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A few years back, I attended one of these so-called "men's conference."  Basically it was a Saturday morning breakfast al a cart and the guest speaker was a former NFL football player.  I took a few photos and listened. 

The former NFL player informed the crowd of about 150 men that he was a kicker, and he was known as "Thunder Foot" among his teammates and the league.  As he went into detail about his college and NFL career, I noticed something missing.  The kicker was really this: There was no emphasis on the preeminence of Christ.  I thought there would be some sort of theme to his winded story ending in a particular passage of the Bible.

Nothing, nada, zilch!

I was disappointed in that the gospel of Christ or anything directly related to Christ was never the key.  The speech was entirely about his college and NFL career, laid out with humorous stories.  Afterwards, several people sought his personal playing card and his autograph.  This had nothing to do with Christ and His ministry.

The church business had used this "men's conference" as a marketing strategy to get men to join their church organization.   The more men, the more wallets!

At the time, I did not see this as anything derogatory or deceptive.  But as time went by, and as I had discovered the manners in which I call "churchianity" was operating.  It was mostly church-centered and noticeably less and less of Christ-centered.  This bothered my spirit.

More and more emphasis is spent on ways to get people to attend church businesses.  And this is accomplished by BIG names such as Tim Tebow (NFL Quarterback), Josh McDowell (Author and Speaker), Dan Cathy (President and CEO of Chick-Fil-A), and Fred Luter (SBC President) in the fashion of a "Grid-Iron Men's Conference."  This recently came to my attention via a pamphlet mailing.  There is no mention of Jesus.  However, there is the glory of men in that it is "Presented by Phil Waldrep Ministries."

The purpose is not to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ before the people, but rather to get people to attend, contribute, and become faithful to the church business.  This is churchianity at its finest.  The "Grid Iron Men's Conference" cost only $79.00 and is to be held at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC) Arena, which seats 19,000.  The cost of this conference exceeds any show scheduled for the next six months including the upcoming Jerry Seinfeld event costing a maximum of $77.00.  If you do the math, this sell-out conference will bring in a cool $1.5 million.  And yet, the pamphlet and the website make no mention of His name, "Jesus Christ."

Many years ago, I viewed someone's characteristic guide of cults.  Included in that list was when an organization uses their own name then beware.  "Presented by Phil Waldrep Ministries" fits this characterization.  Once one registers for this conference, the return credit card will be charged to PWM.CC Phil Waldrep.

Jesus explicitly stated,  "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me." - John 14:6 (NIV)

Churchianity has changed this.  One Baptist church organization boldly proclaimed during a recorded sermon, "Jesus brought you salvation... the church maintains salvation  for you."  In so doing, Jesus' statement has been modified to, "The church is the way, the truth, and the life.  No man can come to the Father except through the church organization."

This is the church organization's deception, bestowed with the doctrines, traditions, and fables of men which nullify the Word of God.  Marketing tactics as described are only part of the means of luring people into their fold, fleece the flock and continually feed them with the dependency of the church business.